


Heat

by KyberChronicles



Category: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Fluff, Implied Sexual Content, Sharing Body Heat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-18
Updated: 2017-04-18
Packaged: 2018-10-20 09:15:00
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,669
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10659525
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KyberChronicles/pseuds/KyberChronicles
Summary: Cassian does what he must to help Jyn survive.And then some.





	Heat

K2SO knew that he was not like other droids.  Well, he knew that he was not like droids that still had their original programming, at least.  He couldn’t speak for the reprogrammed ones.  He didn’t know any, other than himself.  

 

And while his reprogramming made him different, he was also thankful for it.  He was able to make his own choices, for one.  Humans and other sentient beings tended to make such  _ stupid  _ decisions, and knowing that he didn’t have to go along with them was something he appreciated greatly.  

 

Kay also liked the fact that his ability to say what he chose sometimes made Cassian Andor laugh.  He wanted him to be happy.

 

But, then, that was sentimental, and sentimentality was what he  _ didn’t  _ exactly like about his reprogramming.  He wouldn’t go as far to say that it made  _ him _ make stupid decisions, but it definitely overrode his data processors every so often.  He tried not to make a habit out of it.  That type of behavior tended to be reserved particularly for Cassian, anyway.  

 

At least that’s what he told himself, as he ran into the deserted east entrance of Echo Base with a nearly-unconscious Jyn Erso in his arms, her body temperature far below what was considered normal for a human.  

 

He set his vocabulator to its highest volume, something he had never done before.  

 

“CASSIAN.”

* * *

 

Since the destruction of the Death Star several weeks earlier, the Rebellion was gaining more recruits than it had capacity for.  Forced to evacuate Yavin 4 earlier than expected, Echo Base on Hoth was already overcrowded and almost out of resources.  Since there was no end to the war in sight, they needed to expand, and quickly.

 

Cassian sighed, pulling himself up slowly on his cane as his muscles protested against him.  Surviving Scarif had been… surprising.  He came very close to  _ not _ surviving it, from what he had been told.  His recovery had been long and painful, and he still wasn’t through it, not for another month or so, probably.  The trouble came not from his broken bones, but from the torn muscles and ligaments in his back and legs, still healing over.  They had told him he was lucky to be walking, he was lucky that he’d recover.  While he couldn’t deny that, at this stage, all he could feel was frustration.

 

It didn’t help that he had been put on construction supervisor duty in the meantime.  Cassian was willing to do anything for the Rebellion, but, well… this was  _ boring _ .  He had skills that the resistance desperately needed, and none of them included crossing off checklists and fixing faulty pneumatic doors.

 

The one benefit out of waiting to recover was, well, time.  He hadn’t had much of it since he became a rebel, not that he had necessarily wanted it.  But during his many weeks in the medbay, he had been able to slowly rebuild Kay from another Imperial security droid shot down in battle and an older back-up in the base’s data system.  Cassian had filled him in on what was missing as best as he could, but overall, he was glad to have his friend back.

 

And then there was Jyn.  Every so often, his thoughts flickered back to Scarif.  To the two of them in a turbolift, waiting for death to take them.  He remembered the pain, of course-- he still carried it with him-- but mostly he remembered a specific kind of agony in knowing that he wouldn’t get any more time with her, that he would never get to know her any better.  

 

Or so he had thought.  

 

A week after that moment in the turbolift, he awoke to Jyn’s hand wrapped tightly around his, her body curled uncomfortably as she slept in a chair next to his cot.  She hadn’t left his side since, not even when he suggested she take up with another team and not wait around for him to heal.  She had merely glared at him, and continued helping with the base expansion.

 

But it was more than that.  He now knew what she looked like when she laughed, or when she first woke up.  He knew the faces she made when she was frustrated and the sound of her distracted humming as she worked.  He knew how she liked her caf in the morning and that she wasn’t fond of vitapaste (he also knew about how she wrinkled her nose when eating it anyway).  He knew when she had been drinking with the pilots, even when she tried to hide it, because her eyelids would droop ever so slightly, and her cheeks would flush a very particular pink.  

 

He didn’t think he’d ever get to know all of these things about her, and yet he did.  And because of that, the thing he knew the most was how difficult it was becoming to leave her at the end of the night, to not take her in his arms and find out even  _ more  _ about her: what her lips tasted like, what her hair felt like between his fingers, what her hands would possibly do if she felt the same way he did.  But their relationship, though certainly closer than “just friends”, wasn’t like that.  Thus, he resisted.

 

Cassian grumbled a curse as he looked again at the lockpad in front of him, confident no one could hear him.  This side of the base was deserted until it was deemed acceptable for residents.  Especially now that construction was over, it was usually just him, Kay, and Jyn looking over the final details.  But since Jyn had decided to investigate the ice field just past the east entrance for potential food resources, he was alone today.  He had made Kay go with her, against both of their wishes, just to make sure she was safe.  He had heard of too many wampa sightings to let her go alone, even though whatever wampa happened to cross her path would surely rue the day.  The corners of his lips quirked up at the thought.

 

“CASSIAN.”

 

He blinked.  Was that… Kay?  _ Yelling? _  Kay could  _ yell _ ?  

 

Wait. 

 

What in the world would make Kay  _ yell _ , something he’d never heard him do before?

 

_ Jyn. _

 

Cassian got up faster than he thought possible, leaving his cane behind and rushing towards the sound of his droid.  He found him at the end of the corridor, and he felt his heart drop.

 

Jyn was in Kay’s arms, dripping wet and violently shivering.  Her lips were blue, and she looked barely conscious.  Cassian stared in shock, unable to move for a moment.  

 

“She fell through the ice.  I was able to pull her out, but her body temperature is--” Kay explained, but Cassian cut him off, opening the door to the closest room.  It was a captain’s quarters, similar to his, and he rushed to the closet.  All of the rooms had already been furnished and supplied to be able to take in residents as soon as possible, so there was thankfully a stack of heavy blankets waiting for him.  He grabbed the blankets and tossed them on the bed, then turned back to his friend.

 

“Put her down, Kay, and wait outside.  I’m going to have to get her out of these wet clothes and she’s not going to want you here for that,” he ordered him.   _ She probably won’t be happy with  _ me _ being here for it _ , he thought to himself.

 

Gentler than Cassian thought possible, K2 lowered Jyn to the floor, feet first.  She immediately crumpled, her breaths stuttering in her mouth.  Cassian caught her before she fell, his chest tightening with panic at how cold she was.  He tapped lightly at her cheek.

 

“Look at me.  Look at me, Jyn, I need you to stay with me,” he said, his voice frantic.  Her eyes slowly raised to his, and his breath stilled in his chest:  her pupils were dilated to the point where only a sliver of green was visible.  That confirmed his fears-- she was far too out of it for him to put her in the refresher, she’d surely pass out under the hot water.  He cursed, then looked up at Kay, who nodded and left the room, closing the door behind him.  

 

“C-c-c-c…” Jyn attempted, but didn’t make it any further than that.  Cassian wondered if she was trying to say his name, and he pressed his hand to her cheek.  The chill seeped into his skin.  It was then he knew he had no choice-- he had to do what was needed for her to survive.  He just hoped she’d forgive him for it later, and that this abrupt shift in their relationship wouldn’t ruin everything between them.

 

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, Jyn, but I have to do this,” Cassian whispered, quickly starting to peel her drenched clothes off of her.  First her boots and socks, then her gloves, then her water-logged coat, then her scarf, her thermal shirt, her pants, her underclothes.  Each article of clothing hit the floor with a wet slap.  Though his fingers trembled, he refused to be distracted by the skin that was being revealed to him-- all that mattered was that she’d be okay.  

 

When she was finally stripped of all her clothing, he walked her over to the bed, his arm carefully wrapped around her waist.  With his free hand, he grabbed one of the blankets and secured it tightly around her.  Then he lowered her carefully onto the bed, lifting her legs up onto the mattress and pulling the rest of the blankets and sheets up to her chin.  She gazed at him, her eyes unreadable, her body still racked with tremors.  

 

Cassian cursed again, under his breath, and watched as one of her eyebrows ticked upwards.  He undressed as quickly as he could, kicking off his boots.  He avoided Jyn’s stare as he slid under the covers next to her, wrapping his legs around hers and hissing at chill of her skin against his (and not at the feeling of her hips pressing against him, because he was staunchly ignoring that sensation altogether).  Then, opening the blanket she was encased in, he slowly and carefully put his arms around her.  He pulled her tightly to his bare chest until her head was nestled under his chin, her wet hair like ice on the skin of his neck.  Then he pulled the blankets tightly around their bodies.

 

She quaked in his embrace, and he Cassian closed his eyes.  His hands rubbed up and down the curve of her back, his fingers splayed and tingling.  He could feel her quickly stealing away his body heat.  He didn’t care.

 

“Come on,” he breathed.  “Come on, Jyn.”  

 

After a moment, he felt her hands move slightly from where they were curled into fists between their chests.  Belatedly, he realized that she was pressing her fingers against his skin, and pulled back slightly  to look at her.

 

Her pupils were still dilated but less so.  A good sign, Cassian decided, but she was still shivering.  He wasn’t sure what else to do, his mind racing through the hypothermia training he had received upon arrival at the base.  His fingers clutched at her back, feeling a bit helpless.

 

“H-h-h-heart r-r-r-r-ate,” Jyn stuttered out, her voice hoarse.

 

“Heart rate?” Cassian repeated back at her, confused.

 

“N-n-n-n-need t-to i-i-increase h-h-heart r-r-r-rate,” she grounded out, her teeth chattering with each word.  

 

Evidently, she had taken the training as well.  He racked his brain for what to do to increase her heart rate, particularly when her muscles were still incapacitated by the cold.  Then he felt her pressing at him again, and was suddenly wondering how she could possibly look so unimpressed with him when he was in the process of trying to save her life.  

 

“K-k-k-k-kiss me, you idiot,” she bit out, rolling her eyes.  

 

A thought escaped from a place in the back of his mind that he tried to ignore as much as possible: first, it was an admission that he had imagined a kiss between the two of them (more than he’d like to admit, if he was being honest); and second, that the build-up to said imagined kiss had certainly been far more romantic in his head than  _ this _ .

 

Nevertheless, if Cassian was anything, he was a man who knew how to follow orders.  And so he did, pressing his lips to hers for the first time.

 

He felt her shivers slow considerably underneath his touch, but it wasn’t until he brought one of his hands up to cup her face and deepen the kiss that they stuttered out completely.  He wondered if it was from the fire that had enveloped _him_ at the touch of her tongue against his, or perhaps she felt some heat of her own.  He could only hope so.

 

Suddenly, Jyn rutted her hips against his.  All thought fled his mind completely, until he grasped at the fleeing remainders of his common sense in desperation.  

 

_ Wait! _

 

He pulled away from her mouth with a gasp, his hand clutching at her bare shoulder.

 

Jyn stared up at him with the hint of a pout, which was unfair of her, really.  Her lips were swollen and red from kissing him (oh god, he had been kissing  _ Jyn _ ), and a flush colored her cheeks.  The latter came as a relief-- it was proof that she was recovering.  But the combination of the two was affecting him, and the lack of  _ anything _ between them made that impossible to hide from her.

 

The rate at which their physical relationship was progressing was giving Cassian whiplash, and he struggled to both breathe and control his own heart rate.  

 

“I’m still  _ cold _ ,” Jyn complained, breaking through his thoughts.

 

“ _ Jyn _ \--” 

 

Her name was a protest.  A plea to think about what this was, what this meant, what this would be.

 

“Cassian,” she breathed, all humor gone from her voice.  He felt the cold pads of her fingers brushing at his jaw, and his eyes shut against the sensation.

 

“You… the hypothermia. You’re not thinking straight,” he breathed, his willpower hanging by a very thin thread.  They were too close.  Far too close. There was no doubt that she could feel his heart hammering in his chest.

 

Among other things.

 

She shifted even closer into him, and while he was very relieved at the return of her motor function, the filthiest Festian curse he knew echoed loudly in his head when he felt her lips at his throat and her hands skidding across his chest.  

 

“Cassian,” she murmured into his collarbone.

 

“Jyn,” he gasped, pressing his forehead to hers in anguish. “Are you  _ sure _ ?”

 

She didn’t answer for a moment, and he thought that perhaps she had come to her senses.  But when he opened his eyes and looked down at her, her wide-eyed gaze told him everything he needed to know.  

 

“Please,” she whispered.

 

With that, the final thread of his willpower snapped, the world tilted on its axis, and he gave in completely to the fire she had ignited within him.

* * *

Later, Cassian and Jyn emerged, more than a little dazed, from the room to find K2SO waiting for them.  His photoreceptors scanned them carefully.

 

“Your method for raising Jyn’s body temperature seems to have worked, Cassian,” Kay noted.  “Perhaps you should add it to future training sessions with incoming recruits.”

 

Jyn raised an eyebrow at Cassian, not even bothering to hide her smirk.  He cleared his throat, struggling to keep his face neutral.  

 

“Thanks, Kay, but that won’t be necessary,” he replied.

 

As K2 turned away from them and began walking away, Jyn nudged Cassian gently.

 

“Hoth’s pretty cold, you know. I might need you to help keep my temperature up on a regular basis,” she told him, her eyes sparkling.  Then she jogged ahead to keep up with Kay.

 

As he watched her go, Cassian couldn’t help but wonder if he’d ever feel cold again.

**Author's Note:**

> This is mainly for the "rebelcaptainprompts" tumblr Prompt# 8 : “All three words in one fic: ‘agony’; ‘fingers’; and ‘shiver’”. However, I decided to give myself an extra challenge and try and hit a couple of the previous prompts I had missed: ‘warmth’ and ‘one bed’, to be specific. 
> 
> Also, I particularly included Kay in this one because I’ve seen so many fics about them not caring what happens to the other, and I feel like that’s the furthest thing from the truth, particularly if both of them had survived Scarif (not hating on the fics, I just disagree with that aspect of them). 
> 
> Thanks for reading!


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